Campaigners demanded an overhaul of Britain’s abortion laws last night after figures revealed that most doctors never meet the women whose terminations they are approving.

Under the 1967 Abortion Act, no termination is supposed to go ahead unless two doctors have judged the case and decided ‘in good faith’ that it would be in the woman’s best interests.

Doctors who cannot show this can be prosecuted.

Revelation: Last night it emerged that in only 46 per cent of abortion cases is there a record that either of the certifying doctors has actually met the pregnant woman to make a fully-informed decision (file picture)

But last night it emerged that in only 46 per cent of cases is there a record that either of the certifying doctors has actually met the pregnant woman to make a fully-informed decision.

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Instead, less-qualified nurses interview the applicant to decide whether an abortion would harm the woman’s physical or mental health, with the two doctors simply signing the forms later.

In 2012, as many as 98,000 terminations – or 378 every working day – were given the go-ahead without any record of the doctor having met the woman.

Criticism: Lord Steel, the architect of the 1967 Abortion Act, told the Daily Mail that the figures were 'regrettable' and 'against the spirit of the law'

The statistics were revealed following a parliamentary question by Sir Edward Leigh, a Tory member of the Commons’ all-party pro-life group, who said: ‘These appalling figures show we have abortion on demand.

‘It’s just a farce when doctors sign off forms saying women’s mental health will be damaged when half of the time... they don’t even bother to see the patient.’

The Department of Health said the revelations were unacceptable and called on doctors to ensure they approve abortions only if they have been properly investigated.

But a spokesman confirmed that guidance did not force doctors to meet abortion applicants.

Lord Steel, the architect of the 1967 Act, told the Daily Mail that the figures were ‘regrettable’ and ‘against the spirit of the law’.

And fellow Lib Dem peer Lord Alton, who successfully campaigned for the abortion limit to be reduced to 24 weeks in the 1990s, demanded a review of the Act.

‘These figures confirm just how lightly the provisions of the 1967 Act are taken by some practitioners,’ he said.

‘Unlike other pieces of major legislation, the Abortion Act has never been reviewed.

‘With around 600 babies aborted every working day, surely it is time we looked again at how the law is implemented in order to combat the casual attitude to unborn life so clearly in evidence here.’

Last year 185,222 terminations were carried out in England and Wales amid fears that women were able to get abortion on demand.

Last night Peter Saunders, chief executive of the Christian Medical Fellowship, accused the Government and police of turning a blind eye while doctors acted merely as ‘rubber stamps’.

Concern: The statistics were revealed following a parliamentary question by Sir Edward Leigh (left), whom deemed them 'alarming'. Meanwhile, Lib Dem peer Lord Alton (right) has called for a review of the Act

He said: ‘It beggars belief that this
situation has been allowed to develop while the police, regulators and
parliament have effectively turned a blind eye.’

Josephine
Quintavelle, from anti-abortion group Comment on Reproductive Ethics,
said nurses did not have the expertise to decide whether a woman’s
mental or physical health would be under threat by a pregnancy.

She
added: ‘The suggestion that two doctors are required to sign a
termination off does not mean two doctors in another city or two doctors
in cyberspace.

'If the Act was applied as intended, we would have nowhere near the almost 200,000 abortions a year that we have now.’

MORE THAN 4,000 BABY GIRLS 'TERMINATED BECAUSE OF THEIR GENDER'

Shocking: Between 1,400 and 4,722 girls were never born because of abortions carried out due to them being the 'wrong' sex, a study claims

Thousands of girls were never born because of abortions carried out due to them being the ‘wrong’ sex, a study claims.

Between 1,400 and 4,722 girls are missing from the population through abortions on mothers who did not want girls, analysis of census figures shows.

It follows the scandal last year when doctors were exposed as willing to authorise abortions purely on the grounds that the baby was female.

Yesterday’s report, based on 2011 national census figures, revealed that in some areas of Britain the proportion of boys born compared to girls is much higher than the natural rate.

The usual ratio is 105 boys to 100 girls born, which keeps the population in balance as boys are more likely to die in childhood.

But in some areas, sex ratios reached as high as 120 boys for every 100 girls for the second child of families.

Dr Christoforos Anagnostopoulos of Imperial College London, who checked the figures calculated by The Independent newspaper, said: ‘There is strong evidence that the overall gender ratio is significantly different from the background ratio among children in the UK whose parents were born in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh.

A ‘conservative estimate’ for the number of missing girls was 1,400 to 4,722, he added.

Gender selective abortion was ‘the only readily available explanation’ for the observed gender shift.

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Majority of abortions are approved by doctors who haven't met the patient